Ceramic excellence - Archie Bray Foundation
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2 0 14 – 2 0 15 F E L L O W S H I P S AT T H E A R C H I E B R AY F O U N D AT I O N ceramic excellence Heesoo Lee Brooks Oliver Kyungmin Park John Souter Bill Wilkey Speyer Fellow MJD Fellow Matsutani Fellow Taunt Fellow Joan Lincoln Fellow
INTRODUCTION
THE ARCHIE BRAY FOUNDATION FOR THE CERAMIC ARTS Annually, the Archie Bray Foundation invites a critic to spend time at the Bray—to meet
with the artists, experience the Bray’s unique environment and develop essays for the
has always been an ongoing experiment, a place and experience with fellowship exhibition catalogue. This year, the residency was awarded to Jill Foote-
no artistic boundaries. The extensive facilities, the freedom to explore Hutton. Foote-Hutton received her MFA in ceramics from the University of Mississippi,
and the creative exchange that occurs within the community of resident Oxford, in 2003 and her BFA in sculpture from Webster University, St. Louis, in 1994.
She is actively engaged in critical dialogue and observations and her writings have
artists provide a profound opportunity for artistic growth, both for been published in Ceramics Monthly and Studio Potter Magazine. Along with her
individual artists and for the field of ceramics. writing, Foote-Hutton continues to create and exhibit her own artwork nationally.
O
To further encourage the Bray “experiment,” Robert and Suzanne Taunt n a Saturday afternoon in early May, Contrary to that inauspicious beginning,
the wind pours over every plane, the Bray is now known as a place where
established the Taunt Fellowship in 1998. Inspired by the Taunts’ vision seeking nooks, crannies and holes makers can rest assured they will be
and generosity, others have since established additional awards, to whistle through. Although sometimes, supported in the pursuit of their vision.
including the Myhre Fellowship in 1999 and 2000, the Lilian Fellowship it seems the wind screams more than it This fine place to work persisted because
whistles. A cargo train sounds off. It is a Archie Sr. found a way, in spite of adversity,
in 2001, the Matsutani Fellowship in 2006, the MJD Fellowship in 2007, punctuated alto challenging the breathy voice to honor his passion in service to art and
the Anonymous and Speyer Fellowships in 2011, the Windgate swirling over the grounds. I cannot help but future generations of makers. And he issued
Fellowships in 2012 and the Lillstreet Art Center Fellowship in 2014. draw parallels, listening to the immediacy it forth with a spirit of joy, “... may it always
of nature and the distance of industry. The be a delight to turn to—to walk inside the
Most recently, the Joan Lincoln Fellowship (awarded since 2004) was Bray is a place where industry has become Pottery and leave outside somewhere—
fully endowed in 2014. Each fellowship provides $5,000 and a one-year deified. The beehive kilns are temples, but outside the big gate—uptown—anywhere—
nature comes to take them back. The top of the cares of every day. Each time we walk
residency to a ceramic artist who demonstrates exceptional merit
the gazebo echoes the tip of the old elevator in the door to walk into a place of art—of
and promise, allowing them to focus more completely on producing tower. One structure is in disrepair, a sacred simple things not problems, good people,
and exhibiting a significant body of work during their fellowship year. relic. The other is maintained as a center lovely people all tuned to the right spirit.
point of fellowship. The grounds resonate That somewhere through it all will permeate
with near and distant ghosts. a beautiful spirit. …” 2
Individuals wishing to establish a fellowship at the Archie Bray
Foundation are encouraged to contact Resident Artist Director Isn’t it ironic that, according to legend, –Jill Foote-Hutton
Archie Bray Sr. was harshly pressed into the www.whistlepigtales.com
Steven Young Lee. profession of ceramic engineer by his father,
Charles Bray?1 Archie wasn’t allowed to
follow his inclinations toward medicine. One
generation enforced its will upon the other.
1
This publication is generously funded by the Joliet Foundation. Held, Peter, Rick Newby, and Chere Jiusto. A Ceramic Continuum: Fifty Years of the Archie Bray Influence.
Helena, MT: Holter Museum of Art, 2001. Print. p. 19
2
ibid, p. 22...
Heesoo Lee S PEY ER FELLOW
U
pon the surface of an enclosed this fellowship, Lee is stretching out
cylinder, a girl peeks out from her illustrational prowess, but she is
behind a watchful aspen. The also allowing herself to take more
forest is impossibly deep and the risks in her collaborative relationship
world we observe invokes a feeling with clay.
similar to the films of Hayao Korea, and then building on those
Miyazaki. Although, Heesoo Lee She sits at the wheel throwing a skills, Lee learned to translate paint
doesn’t intend to direct us as much cylinder, trying to get her finger into glaze as she worked through
as the renowned animator. Her muscles back in shape. This is the night, apprenticing for Julia
narratives are exquisite suggestions something she says she has to do Kirillova. Kirillova creates ornate
of a common experience. The girl after spending an extended period Russian tea sets, the perfect
is on the brink of coming out into of time handbuilding. “If I don’t, then incubator to become familiar with
the open or she is on the brink of you can see my hand shaking in saturation levels and other potentials
disappearing into the forest. the final form of the larger pieces.” of underglaze. The concentrated
time—her thousand hours of
What has been restricted to small Lee talks about the gift of humility repetition—shows in her masterful
cylinders and vases now blooms out clay delivers to a maker. To rendering of a densely populated
beyond the surface of the vessel, understand what she means about cityscape, a cherry blossom
spilling across the floor as a field humility, it is useful to know the tree pushing forward through
of poppies. Lee’s illustrations are contrast of pride she guards against. saturated color, and the expressive
entering a new dimension. Literally. Trained extensively as an illustrator anthropomorphism of the multiple
at E Hwa University in Seoul, South eyes of an aspen. Illustration offers
This is what the time at the Bray an opportunity to display domination
has provided her. The residency is through skill. Conversely, the
holding space for her to stretch a intrinsically ceramic materials she
flat drawing of a stand of aspens traffics in require, at one time or
beyond the lip of the cylinder. It another, a release. She has to
is holding space for her to push abandon any pride in favor of vitrified
a cylinder beyond the wheel and permanence. Once an object is
beyond the round, creating a released into the kiln chamber, all of
voluminous mass of a wave. Her her expertly rendered illustrations are
fingertips push the white clay with at the mercy of the process. It is a
the same immediacy she employs in balance she enjoys. It grounds her.
a brushstroke, delivering an homage
to the awesome feeling of nature And, as balance and nature ground
tumbling over a population with raw Lee, she offers the same to us. She
force. Within the creative space of invites us to walk among poppies.
Observe, 2015, Poppy Bowls, 2015,
porcelain, underglaze, porcelain, underglaze,
22" x 4"x 4" sizes vary
Brooks Oliver MJD FELLOW
H
e taught himself to use bodies, glazes and casting methods.
Rhino3D, a computer-aided For his personal work, this could
design software application, mean refining a casting slip flecked
to explore the boundaries of form. with colorful bits of grog. If the flecks
The technology enables a maker to are too large, it mimics linoleum
take a sketch out of their imagination and this is undesirable to him; so heart of downtown Chicago. The
and turn it 360° on any axis. It allows he slowly grinds them to a smaller highly reflective form, inspired by
consideration of an improbable gauge. It is a laborious process, mercury, runs parallel to intentions
curve; and a curve, when repeated, the grinding, but this is just another Oliver holds for his own work. And it
becomes a volume. puzzle to solve. is evident in the forms he creates—
there is zero malice in his magical
Brooks Oliver is inspired by the In Gilad he found a model that subterfuge. Rather, he delights in the
redirection of magic. He enjoys the isolated the necessary components positive redirection of perceptions
comfort an audience finds when they of containment and provided new momentary confusion can elicit.
are presented with a familiar thing, definitions for vase and bowl: A vessel wobbling without a stable
as much as he enjoys blinding them surface and borders. Looking at foot, a fruit bowl without a floor, and
with an unexpected action. making through this lens seems to the flower vase with implied walls
enhance his ability to push the are all meant to comfort us with the
Meanwhile, Oliver is motivated by dynamism of the vessel. If a bowl familiar as much as they delight us
Garth Clark, Ron Gilad and Anish only needs a surface and borders, in their improbability.
Kapoor, respectively, they are: a does the maker have to provide
ceramic collector and provocateur, both? If the border is a visual and Oliver relates his personal experience
a designer and a sculptor. physical line, what happens when standing in front of “Cloud Gate,”
the weight of that line is increased? “Every single person I’ve seen
Oliver actively agrees with Clark— We see the result in the substantial looking into the reflective surface
craft and design must evolve an corral provided by his “Fruit Loop.” is happy and smiling.” When one
equitable merger for future success. observes Oliver’s work one should
To wit, he is investing his time and He saw a lodestar of joyous, understand showmanship and
energy into the development of a mesmerizing ambiguity in Kapoor’s humor are as essential to him
design firm that advocates for artists’ “Cloud Gate,” a monumental as borders are to a bowl––as
vision in quality and commerce. stainless-steel sculpture in the technology is to design.
With the mind of an engineer,
Oliver is prime to take on the task.
His current work has technical
troubleshooting embedded in the
process. He endeavors to refine
production, developing the most
efficient and appropriate clay
Stem Vase, 2015,
cast porcelain,
10" x 6" x 6"
Fruit Loop, 2015,
cast and altered porcelain,
4" x 24" x 5"
Kyungmin Park MATSUTANI FELLOW
T
here is a window display in amorphous cloud causes her to feel
Helena’s downtown walking alive. Make no mistake, attending to
mall Kyungmin Park likes to accuracy in the human form takes
frequent. It is filled with myriad precedence over everything else
dioramas populated by curious in her work. She believes fully in a employs the vibrant colors of
figurines and it changes regularly. strong formal foundation before one traditional Korean costumes in
The window is not too far away can begin to explore ideas or toy patterns that dance about her
from another of her favorite, colorful with composition. forms, collapsing the volumes she
locations: the local, independent has so diligently coaxed out of the
toy store. Both locations call to At this point in her evolution, we clay. While color is the first strike,
her love of all things cute and tiny. are seeing formalist and minimalist cuteness grabs our line of sight
She combs through bins filled with concerns pushing a figurative artist from a distance and draws us
colorful plastic bunnies, delighting to focus her attentions. Park has across the room toward unexpected
in their accuracy. parsed the figure and found the emotional encounters. On some
face is currently her essential muse. level, everything she is showing us
But, it’s not all French fries and Using all 43 facial muscles, she is autobiographical. The moments
rainbows. “I don’t want to just make repeatedly levels her gaze at the she chooses to portray are not
cutesy work. I want people to think.” experiences of life. She presents always earth-shattering. Often the
Her formal training and work ethic a visual bridge for the viewer, work is born from simple, subtle
began early at a fine art academy in capturing the emotional stream moments that have become lodged
Seoul where her day began at 6 AM of consciousness in works with in her imagination. But the moments
and didn’t end until well after 10 PM. multiple figures vying for attention must always have some sort of
She was exposed to the rigors of from the same organic mound. universal recognition.
every medium. She still holds the She records the inconstancy of the
merits of such rigor close in her human condition, “In five minutes we As we bear witness to her evolution,
practice. The challenge of conjuring feel one way, the next five minutes we also see the development of
a dutifully rendered figure from an we feel another way, and the next an iconography. Words are likened
five minutes? Again, to fish coming out of a mouth—
a new emotion.” sometimes slippery and distasteful.
Ladybugs are a commentary on
Even though she the perplexing dualities of life. One
doesn’t want ladybug is cute and the subject of
to make “cutesy” traditionally cute, if morbid, rhyming
work, she songs. “Ladybug, ladybug, fly away
understands the home. …” En masse, ladybugs
power of cute transform into a plague of
to lure an audience pestilence.
into these emotional
cacophonies. Park is questioning the frailty of
Intuitively, she our perceptions.
I Fish You, 2013, No means No!, 2014,
porcelain, underglaze, glaze, resin, porcelain, underglaze, glaze, resin,
19" x 15" x 9" 13" x 14" x 23"
John Souter TAUNT FELLOW
J
ohn Souter loves color and extends the inquiry through his
light. He is excited about it. His democratic inclusion of materials.
compositions are chromatic You are not just going to see illusions
test strips of his examinations of space and density of pattern
presented for our pleasure. He is rendered in paint here, you are
pushed by the same quest as exposed to a velveteen ribbon
the impressionists: how can light embedded in all its light-trapping
be captured? And if it can’t be mass within the limpid layers of flux and the yarn’s ability to relate to
captured, can he at least draw and silica. And in contrast to Nagle, that absence in its presence. Then
our attention to it? Souter is not a wizard of alchemy; he wraps the whole caboodle in
although he does share the same a bright lime-green sweater—
Many of Souter’s compositional level of curiosity. It drives him to use strengthening the drama in black
inquiries were born from a seminal glazes beyond their limits, layering with contrasting brightness. He
experience inside the Chartres materials against suggested is throwing off presumptions by
Cathedral. Outside, he found the application directives. stimulating the cones and rods
architecture stale. He was, however, in our eyes. He is capitalizing on
mesmerized by the light and air of Souter’s inquisitions and obsessions the age-old war between the
the interior, “What happens when guide his observations. He looks at complements of red and green.
I put a plastic mirror next to glaze? matte black glaze and instead of
How does color open visual space? diving into the chemical analysis in He transmutes ephemeral light into
How does the Chartres experience order to subtly tweak the attributes a tactile experience.
translate into fabric?” this way or that, he looks around
the environment for materials that He builds a false corner to be
Somehow, Souter is exploiting the absorb light in the same way. And so presented upon the flat plane of a
materiality of glaze separate from he wraps a cone of red underglaze gallery wall and fills the angle with a
the chemistry. His ideas of color (with a hole in the top, allowing us to deep shag of red fiber. Then, leaping
interaction are on par with ceramic peer into a dark void) in black yarn. across the color wheel, he punctures
giants Ken Price and Ron Nagle. He delights in the blackness within that shag with a turquoise-blue line
However, beyond Price, Souter that is an actual absence of light of yarn. The line drapes downward
(we recollect Eva Hesse) as he
defines an organic shape across
Amanda Wilkey
Amanda Wilkey
the infinite limit the corner creates.
Souter wants us to see the density
of the red and he wants to draw our
attention to that density, exploding
in contrast to the turquoise line.
He revels in the blue penumbral
shadow falling on the white wall.
Souter celebrates the absurdity of
the world. In doing so, he elevates
our senses.
Untitled, 2015, Sketch #4, 2015, Sketch #5, 2015,
clay, glaze, yarn, plastic, enamel, table, felt, velvet, string, resin, lacquer, felt, plastic, wood, resin, velvet,
dimensions variable mounted to paper, 14" x 18" mounted to paper, 16" x 20"
Bill Wilkey JOAN LINCOLN FELLOW
C
eramics is an inescapable, if stream of makers coming through
transitional, family tree. It’s the Great Smoky Mountains, just a
almost a habit, but it’s a stone’s throw from his home base.
habit evolved from a rich tradition of So much exposure, so early, can
apprenticeships. Bill Wilkey is one make it difficult for a maker to hear
of the new standard-bearers in the their own voice. not for new earth or heaven, but to
lineage of studio pottery. In 2015, be quiet in heart, and in eye clear.
he has a hard row to hoe and he Can we draw comparisons What we need is here.”
knows it, but he is obsessed with between Wilkey’s work and other
preserving craft traditions. He admits contemporary potters? Yes, we can, We can see the experience of
the allure of the village potter motif is and we like it that way. There is Brunelleschi’s dome and the spirit
a romantic one, conceding he never something grounding us when we of Berry’s decree—once we know
expects to capture the romance fully, call out the lineage: Bill Wilkey, what to look for—in every functional
because his ego gets in the way, Bede Clarke, Joe Pintz, Don Davis, object touched by Wilkey’s hand.
“A cup has to have the same Kenyon Hansen, Ellen Shankin, Nick The segmented planes of a pitcher
amount of time as a vase.” Wilkey Joerling, Charity Davis Woodard. are methodically built up with tooling
believes all pots, great and small, textures and atmospheric firing.
merit equal attention. Just look at What you might not know is Wilkey’s These textures sit in contrast to each
the surface detail and you’ll begin formal influences go back much, other, bringing geometric asymmetry
to get a sense about his stubborn much farther than the American in concert with symmetry. Handles
commitment to quality. Studio Pottery Movement. They go and spouts follow nature’s divine
back to 1436, thanks to a trip to model, adhering to the rule of thirds.
He continues to feed his craft Spannocchia, Italy, where he stood But it is in the subtle areas, like the
obsession each time he sits at the in awe of Brunelleschi’s dome. undercut of a foot or the strainer
wheel or stokes a kiln, conjuring up inside of a spout with a pattern cut
more layers on the surface planes In Brunelleschi’s details and to rhythmically repeat the larger
of platter and vase, and bowl. His engineering, Wilkey saw biomimicry elements of the form, where one can
craft compulsions were encouraged made manifest. He recalled the delight in Wilkey’s attention to detail.
early and often by the constant poet Wendell Berry, “... And we pray,
Wilkey is about to insert himself into
your life. Get ready. His wares are
a catalyst for interaction. “I don’t
see my work solving the world’s
problems directly. Rather it’s more
about being proud of what we
make and seeing if we can make
the best work possible.”
Small Serving Bowl Set, 2015,
white stoneware,
3" x 8" x 8"
Quadrant Pitcher, 2015,
white stoneware,
13" x 7.5" x 6"
PAS T FELLOWS HI P R EC I PI ENTS
1999 2010
Marc Digeros, Taunt Fellow Jana Evans, Taunt Fellow
Board of Directors
Sharon Brush, Myhre Fellow Mathew McConnell, Lilian Fellow Jon Satre,
Courtney Murphy, Lincoln Fellow President
2000 Nicholas Bivins, Matsutani Fellow
Eric Eley, Taunt Fellow
Susan Ricklefs,
Aaron Benson, MJD Fellow
John Byrd, Myhre Fellow Vice President
2011 Tim Speyer,
2001 Lindsay Pichaske, Taunt Fellow
Jiman Choi, Taunt Fellow Secretary
Jonathan Read, Lilian Fellow
John Utgaard, Lilian Fellow Kenyon Hansen, Lincoln Fellow Emily Galusha,
Sean O’Connell, Matsutani Fellow Treasurer
2002
Andrew Casto, MJD Fellow John Balistreri
Jason Walker, Taunt Fellow
Alanna DeRocchi, Speyer Fellow Mike Casey
Sandra Trujillo, Lilian Fellow
Jeff Campana, Anonymous Fellow
Josh DeWeese
2003
2012 Julia Galloway
Jeremy Kane, Taunt Fellow
Mel Griffin, Taunt Fellow Andrea Gill
Karen Swyler, Lilian Fellow
Giselle Hicks, Lilian Fellow
2004 Sunshine Cobb, Lincoln Fellow Jan Lombardi
Trey Hill, Taunt Fellow Peter Christian Johnson, Tony Marsh
Miranda Howe, Lilian Fellow Matsutani Fellow Aidan Myhre
Kowkie Durst, Lincoln Fellow Chris Pickett, MJD Fellow
Andrew Gilliatt, Speyer Fellow
Mark Pharis
2005 Jeff Campana, Windgate Fellow Paul Sacaridiz
Koi Neng Liew, Taunt Fellow Alanna DeRocchi, Windgate Fellow Dennis M. Taylor
Deborah Schwartzkopf, Sean O’Connell, Windgate Fellow Patti Warashina
Lilian Fellow Jonathan Read, Windgate Fellow
Melissa Mencini, Lincoln Fellow Martha Williams
2013
2006 Zemer Peled, Taunt Fellow
Jennifer Allen, Taunt Fellow Sunshine Cobb, Lilian Fellow
Christina West, Lilian Fellow Tom Jaszczak, Lincoln Fellow Resident Artist Director
Joseph Pintz, Lincoln Fellow Joanna Powell, Matsutani Fellow Steven Young Lee
Chris Dufala, MJD Fellow
2007 Adam Field, Speyer Fellow
Jeremy Hatch, Taunt Fellow Andrew Gilliatt, Windgate Fellow
Brian Rochefort, Lilian Fellow Mel Griffin, Windgate Fellow
Renee Audette, Lincoln Fellow Giselle Hicks, Windgate Fellow
Anne Drew Potter, Chris Pickett, Windgate Fellow
Matsutani Fellow
2014
2008 Adam Field, Lilian Fellow*
Kevin Snipes, Taunt Fellow Zemer Peled, Windgate Fellow*
Donna Flanery, Lilian Fellow Joanna Powell, Windgate Fellow*
Birdie Boone, Lincoln Fellow Chris Dufala, Anonymous Fellow*
David Peters, Matsutani Fellow Tom Jaszczak,
Nathan Craven, MJD Fellow Lillstreet Art Center Fellow*
2009
*Stories featured in
Martha Grover, Taunt Fellow
previous year’s monograph.
Sean Irwin, Lilian Fellow
Gwendolyn Yoppolo, Lincoln Fellow
Kelly Garrett Rathbone,
Matsutani Fellow
Kensuke Yamada, MJD Fellow
2915 Country Club Ave. Helena, MT 59602 406-443-3502 archiebray@archiebray.org www.archiebray.org @archie_bray #archiebray
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